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The population of young people is growing dramatically with majority of this age group living in developing countries. Adolescents have been identified as a particularly vulnerable group to multiple Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) risks. This article reviewed access to health care, availability of health care, identified SRH needs and services to adolescents. Findings revealed young people have specific reproductive health needs based on age, sex, marital status and their socioeconomic situation. They need accurate and comprehensive information on their sexuality. Fear of being stigmatized or punished for sexual involvement have been recognized as barriers to utilization of reproductive health services as well as negative attitude of the health care providers, lack of confidentiality by the health care providers, high cost of services and delay in receiving treatment with regards to SRH needs. Adolescents have the right to access health services hence youth friendly services are needed in order to adequately provide quality reproductive health care to the adolescents.

Mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis (mtFAS) is essential for respiratory function. MtFAS generates the octanoic acid precursor for lipoic acid synthesis, but the role of longer fatty acid products has remained unclear. The structurally well-characterized component of mtFAS, human 2E-enoyl-ACP reductase (MECR) rescues respiratory growth and lipoylation defects of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Δetr1 strain lacking native mtFAS enoyl reductase. To address the role of longer products of mtFAS, we employed in silico molecular simulations to design a MECR variant with a shortened substrate binding cavity. Our in vitro and in vivo analyses indicate that the MECR G165Q variant allows synthesis of octanoyl groups but not long chain fatty acids, confirming the validity of our computational approach to engineer substrate length specificity. Furthermore, our data imply that restoring lipoylation in mtFAS deficient yeast strains is not sufficient to support respiration and that long chain acyl-ACPs generated by mtFAS are required for mitochondrial function.

In the European Union (EU) Horizon 2020 (H2020) project NextGen, 24 technologies related to circular economy in the water sector were investigated at 10 case studies distributed across Europe.The technologies are involved in water management and recovery, material recovery and energy recovery. In this context, a database containing information and data referring to those technologies was developed. The database, described in this report, is called technology evidence base (TEB), is open access and hosted by Water Europe as part of the WE Marketplace (https://mp.watereurope.eu/).

The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater was first reported in March 2020. Over the subsequent months, the potential for wastewater surveillance to contribute to COVID-19 mitigation programmes has been the focus of intense national and international research activities, gaining the attention of policy makers and the public. As a new application of an established methodology, focused collaboration between public health practitioners and wastewater researchers is essential to developing a common understanding on how, when and where the outputs of this non-invasive community-level approach can deliver actionable outcomes for public health authorities. Within this context, the NORMAN SCORE “SARS-CoV-2 in sewage” database provides a platform for rapid, open access data sharing, validated by the uploading of 276 data sets from nine countries to-date. Through offering direct access to underpinning meta-data sets (and describing its use in data interpretation), the NORMAN SCORE database is a resource for the development of recommendations on minimum data requirements for wastewater pathogen surveillance. It is also a tool to engage public health practitioners in discussions on use of the approach, providing an opportunity to build mutual understanding of the demand and supply for data and facilitate the translation of this promising research application into public health practice. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

Objetives: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multifactorial autoimmune disease and the glomerulonephritis is one of the most severe complications, which leads to severe persistent proteinuria, chronic renal failure, and end-stage renal disease. This multicenter study investigated the genetic associations of a non-synonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism in DNase I with the risk of lupus and its influence on development of nephropathy in an Argentinean population. Methods: Using the Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism method, the Q222R (+2373A→G; Gln244Arg) DNase I polymorphism was studied in 156 systemic lupus erythematosus patients and 170 healthy controls. Results: Although no significant association between Q222R polymorphism and the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus was found, the presence of the A allele was associated with an increased risk for the development of nephropathy (p=0.019, Odd Ratio=2.196, 95 % confidence interval [1.135-4.247]) and a worse disease course [moderate disease course: p=0.006, Odd Ratio=3.250, 95% confidence interval (1.401-7.539); severe disease course: p=0.040, Odd Ratio=2.339, 95% confidence interval (1.040-5.260)]. Conclusions: A better understanding of the genetic basis of systemic lupus erythematosus will help in the development of new and more effectives strategies for the treatment of the disease in the future.